Five takeaways from big basketball recruiting weekend as Kiyan Anthony, Bryce James stand out

Legacy players draw much of the interest, but you'd better be learning the names Darryn Peterson and Koa Peat, too

By Eric Bossi May 20, 2024 at 3:15 pm ET• 5 min read

The recruiting circuit was on fire this weekend. High-major coaches were spread across the country trying to see prospects at Nike, Adidas and Under Armour events. There's a lot to keep up with especially as hoops heads were absorbing an awesome weekend of NBA postseason, too. 

Because we're a helpful group over at 247Sports, we decided to consolidate these noteworthy takeaways into five key things you need to know from this weekend.

Kiyan Anthony, Melo's son, plays a leading role

Kiyan Anthony's ascension has been one of the storylines of this spring and it was plain to see this weekend, writes Adam Finkelstein. After opening the weekend with 25 points against the PSA Cardinals and 18 against ProSkills, Anthony exploded for 28 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals on Saturday afternoon against Team Final. He scored 25 of those points in the first three quarters of the game, accounting for more than half his team's points at that point. Most impressive, was that he did so while playing in the flow and not dominating the ball, yet still being aggressive.

His pull-up game was especially potent. He was able to get to it in a number of ways, whether he was punishing defenders for not having their hands up, finding the open space in transition, or putting defenders in jail when operating in ball-screens. He also mixed in some impressive footwork off the catch, lay-up making ability around the paint, and even the ability to take smaller guards into the post.